Obituary

Bob Denard

The controversial French mercenary Bob Denard, who claimed to have covert government support for his unorthodox military activities in a string of former French colonial wars, coups and insurrections over more than 40 years, has died in Paris, aged 78, after suffering from Alzheimer's disease. He began his career in the Congo and ended it with a series of coups and coup attempts in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Comoros Islands.

A dapper former marine commando, Denard called himself the "pirate of the republic". However, he never received open official support and was twice convicted in France - for his role in Marxist-controlled Benin in 1977, and for his involvement in a short-lived coup in Comoros in 1995. In each case, he received a suspended sentence. At his last hearing, his lawyer, Elie Hatem, described him as the "scapegoat of the republic".

Denard was known for his ruthless efficiency when faced with poorly trained African troops, and was among post-colonial mercenaries known as les affreux (the horrible ones). He was involved in four of the 19 coups and coup attempts that have shaken the Comoros archipelago since the islands won independence from France in 1975. Many Comorians blamed him for destabilising the islands, as well as other parts of Africa.

Denard, whose real name was Gilbert Bourgeaud, was born in Bordeaux and served in the French marine commandos in the early 1950s, before entering the colonial police in pre-independence Algeria and Morocco. During his time in the Moroccan police, "he met people who noticed that he was quite gifted for shady affairs," according to his biographer, Georges Fleury. After a stint selling kitchen appliances, and influenced by his anti-communist beliefs, Denard moved to Africa in the 1960s offering himself as a gun for hire. His military experience and organisational skills helped to develop his reputation.

He was part of a commando team which, in 1963, rescued white civilians encircled by rebels in Stanleyville (now Kisangani) in the Belgian Congo province of Katanga. The raid formed the basis of the 1978 film The Wild Geese and helped to establish Denard's reputation as a fearless fighter. During the following decades, he is believed to have fought in Yemen, the former Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Nigeria, Benin, Angola and Zaire, before his long-term involvement in the Comoros islands. His African exploits led many to regard him as the model for the hero of Frederick Forsyth's 1974 novel The Dogs of War.

Although nothing has been admitted, it is believed that post-colonial France gave tacit approval to Denard's exploits in its struggle to maintain influence on the continent. During Denard's three-week trial in February last year, a former head of foreign intelligence said in his defence: "When special services are unable to undertake certain kinds of undercover operation, they use parallel structures. This was the case of Bob Denard." In his autobiography, Denard said that: "Often, I didn't exactly have a green light from the French authorities, but I went on the amber."

After the 1981 election of President François Mitterrand, Denard's privileged contacts in Paris declined, but for many years he remained an influential figure in the Comoros archipelago. In 1975, he and other mercenaries were employed to help overthrow the newly proclaimed Comoros President Ahmed Abdallah in a civilian coup. Three years later, he led a mercenary invasion of Grande Comore and restored Abdallah to power. Denard then became head of Abdallah's presidential guard, converting to Islam, taking the name Said Mustapha Mahdjoub and forging a strategic alliance with South Africa. In 1989 Abdallah was shot in murky circumstances, and Denard fled.

In 1995, he came out of retirement for a last gamble in the Comoros, landing on a beach with 30 soldiers in rubber dinghies. This final putsch failed when the French army intervened after a week.

In 2006, he was given a suspended five-year jail term in Paris for his last failed coup attempt. This was increased at an appeal court last July to a year in jail with three suspended, but he never served it due to ill health.

In his final years, Denard divided his time between Paris and his home in the Médoc. He was married seven times and the father of at least eight children.